The Alchemy NYC Compliance Statement

The Alchemy compliance program covers seven regulatory pillars, each tied to a specific statute or rule.

MRTA (Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, 2021). The enabling state statute that legalized adult-use cannabis in New York State. MRTA established the regulatory framework, the OCM authority, the Office of Cannabis Management as an independent agency within the Division of State Government Operations, and the Cannabis Control Board as the policymaking body. MRTA also created the Cannabis Advisory Board, the Social Equity Mentorship Program, and the Cannabis Research License. The full text is available through the New York State Senate at nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s854a.

NYS OCM Part 113 (9 NYCRR §113). Packaging, labeling, and child-resistance requirements. Every product sold from The Alchemy leaves in Part 113 compliant packaging with batch number, cannabinoid content, ingredient list, allergen disclosure, expiration or use-by date, manufacturer license number, the universal cannabis symbol on every retail-facing surface, and warning labels covering operating-machinery, pregnancy, lactation, and out-of-reach-of-children messaging. Part 113 also mandates that the package be opaque, tamper-evident, and certified child-resistant under the Poison Prevention Packaging Act standard (16 CFR §1700.20).

NYS OCM Part 124 (9 NYCRR §124). Delivery operations. Authorizes adult 21+ couriers, vetted through OCM-required background screening, to transport cannabis from licensed dispensaries to customer addresses within the licensed service zone via approved vehicles with locked storage compartments separated from the driver compartment. Part 124 requires real-time manifest tracking, GPS logging of every delivery, and ID verification at recipient handoff.

NYS OCM Part 118 (9 NYCRR §118). Employment and Responsible Vendor training. Every dispensary employee completes Responsible Vendor training within 30 days of hire. We pay the certification fee. We document completion in the employee personnel record and we re-certify on the OCM schedule.

NYS OCM advertising rules (9 NYCRR §116). Restrictions on cannabis advertising content, claims, audience targeting, and pricing language. No cartoons, no minors, no claims of therapeutic benefit beyond approved language, no comparison to alcohol, no targeting of school-adjacent or youth-adjacent venues. The Alchemy follows the advertising guidelines on the website, in email, in SMS, on Instagram, and on in-store signage. Every external creative asset gets a compliance review before it ships.

NYC Smoke-Free Air Act (NYC Admin Code §17-501 et seq.). Restrictions on cannabis smoking and vaping in NYC public spaces. The Alchemy provides customer education on where consumption is permitted and where it is not. The 100-foot buffer around school entrances, the prohibition in parks, beaches, boardwalks, playgrounds, pedestrian plazas, subway platforms, subway cars, MTA stations, and buses, the prohibition in any indoor workplace, and the prohibition within hospital districts are all surfaced in our /faq/where-can-i-smoke-nyc/ guide.

Federal cannabis prohibition (21 USC §812, Schedule I, Controlled Substances Act). Cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. The Alchemy operates strictly within New York State. We do not ship cannabis across state lines, we do not support air travel with cannabis, and we do not accept federal payment instruments restricted by cannabis-banking rules (no Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover credit-card processing on cannabis transactions).

NYS Cannabis Law §70(2) restricts cannabis sales to adults 21 and over. The Alchemy enforces age verification at three points of every transaction, with no exception across either location.

Entry verification. Every customer presents a government-issued photo ID at the front door before entering the sales floor. The door verification uses ID-scanning technology that detects altered, expired, or non-conforming credentials. Acceptable identification includes a driver's license, a state-issued non-driver photo ID, a US military ID, a US passport, a US passport card, an IDNYC card, and a passport from any country with photo and date of birth. Out-of-state IDs are accepted. International passports are accepted. Photocopies and digital photos of an ID are not accepted: NYS law and OCM rule require the physical document at point of sale.

Checkout verification. Every transaction includes a second ID verification at the checkout counter. The cashier confirms the ID matches the customer in front of them and that the customer is 21 or over. The double-check feels redundant the first time a customer encounters it. It is not redundant. It is the OCM compliance protocol and we follow it on every transaction.

Handoff verification (delivery). Every delivery transaction requires the courier to verify the recipient's ID at the door before releasing the product. The recipient must match the named customer on the order. The courier app captures the verification timestamp and the recipient name. The product does not leave the courier's bag until the ID match completes.

Customers who do not have valid ID will not be admitted or served. We do not accept temporary paper IDs. We do not accept an ID combined with a "vouch" from a companion. We do not accept "I left it at home." The cost of a bad call on age verification is the license. The license is the business. The business protects the license.

Every cannabis product sold at The Alchemy has undergone state-certified testing through an OCM-permitted independent laboratory. The Part 5 (9 NYCRR §5) testing framework requires laboratories to test for cannabinoid content, pesticide screening, heavy metal screening, microbial contamination screening, mycotoxin screening (where applicable), and residual solvent screening (concentrates).

Cannabinoid content. Potency by mass percentage for THC, THCa, CBD, CBDa, CBG, CBGa, CBN, CBC, THCV, and applicable minor cannabinoids. The lab reports total THC (the regulated number) using the standard formula: total THC = THC + (0.877 × THCa).

Pesticide screening. The NYS-mandated pesticide panel covers over 60 pesticide compounds. The panel reflects the EPA registered pesticide list and the OCM action limits for cannabis. Action limits for cannabis are stricter than action limits for food crops because cannabis is combusted or vaporized rather than digested.

Heavy metal screening. Lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. Action limits follow USP <232> standards adjusted for cannabis-specific consumption methods.

Microbial contamination screening. Aerobic bacteria, total yeast and mold, salmonella, E. coli, total coliforms, and (for specific product categories) Aspergillus species. The Aspergillus screen is mandatory for any product intended for inhalation.

Mycotoxin screening. Aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2) and ochratoxin A. Required where applicable to the product category.

Residual solvent screening. For concentrates extracted using hydrocarbons, ethanol, or other solvents. Action limits follow USP <467> Class 1 and Class 2 thresholds.

The Certificate of Analysis (COA) for every product is accessible to the customer in two ways: the QR code printed on the package links directly to the COA, and the menu listing on thealchemy.nyc displays the COA inline on the product detail page. The COA shows the batch number, the testing laboratory, the test date, every assay performed, the result with units, the action limit for comparison, and the pass/fail status.

The Alchemy will refuse to sell any product that does not have a current passing COA on file with the NYS OCM and verifiable through the laboratory's public COA portal. We rotate COA verification weekly on every active inventory line. If a batch fails any category on re-test, we pull the batch from the shelf and contact the cultivator or processor.

Every cannabis product sold at The Alchemy is tracked in Metrc, the OCM-required seed-to-sale tracking system. The track-and-trace record begins at the cultivator (plant tag), continues through processing (batch tag), arrives at the dispensary on a Metrc manifest, sits in inventory under a Metrc package tag, and exits the building under a Metrc retail receipt tied to the transaction. Every step is logged with a timestamp, an employee identifier, and a license-number cross-reference.

Reconciliation runs nightly at both locations. The Metrc closing balance must match the physical inventory closing balance within OCM tolerance, and any variance gets investigated before the next shift opens. The Metrc record is auditable by OCM at any time, and the inventory reconciliation report is one of the standard inspection items.

This level of tracking is why a legitimate licensed dispensary is structurally different from the unlicensed gray-market storefront on the next block. The unlicensed store has no Metrc record, no COA on file, no Part 113 packaging, and no compliance with the testing, advertising, or possession framework. It is a different product even if the wrapper looks similar.

Cannabis Law §222(2)(d) caps adult-use cannabis possession at three ounces of flower (or the equivalent in concentrate, with a 24-gram concentrate ceiling) per adult. The Alchemy enforces the daily purchase cap at the POS. Every transaction is checked against the limit before payment, and the system blocks attempts to exceed the cap across stacked orders or multiple visits on the same day on the same loyalty account.

The Alchemy budtender team is trained to educate customers on the possession limit and to advise on appropriate purchase sizing. First-time customers rarely come close to the cap. A normal first visit is one or two products totaling well under one ounce equivalent. The three-ounce cap is the upper bound, not the recommended target.

NYC public consumption rules treat cannabis the same as tobacco under the Smoke-Free Air Act. Cannabis smoking and vaping are prohibited in NYC parks (including Central Park, Prospect Park, Hudson River Park, and every other public park within NYC limits), on beaches, on boardwalks, in playgrounds, in pedestrian plazas, on subway platforms, on subway cars, in subway stations, on buses, in MTA stations, and in any indoor workplace. Smoking is also prohibited within 100 feet of school entrances under NYC Admin Code §17-505.

Cannabis is legal to consume on private property with the property owner's consent. A renter's lease may restrict cannabis use, particularly in newer NYC buildings where the lease often prohibits smoking of any kind. A hotel or short-term rental has its own house rules. A condominium board has its own rules. Consumption in a vehicle, whether driving or as a passenger in a moving vehicle, is illegal and treated similarly to open-container alcohol violations.

The Alchemy publishes a public consumption guide on the site at /faq/where-can-i-smoke-nyc/ and provides in-store guidance to customers asking where they may consume. Budtenders are trained to surface the consumption-location question when a customer is buying an inhaled product, because mismatched consumption settings are one of the most common first-time customer mistakes.

The Alchemy adheres to specific venue and district sensitivity rules including the following.

Madison Square Garden and Hudson Yards entertainment districts. No cannabis-specific signage or aggressive advertising within sensitive entertainment-district zones around MSG and Hudson Yards. Customers are advised to consume cannabis off-site. The Chelsea storefront sits a short walk from MSG (eight minutes via 8th Avenue) and we route customers heading to MSG events with consumption-timing guidance accordingly.

Hospital districts (Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill, Hospital For Special Surgery, NYU Langone). Hospital-area discretion training for budtenders. Customers visiting from hospital districts may be patient companions, recovering patients, or healthcare workers on break. Budtender consultation reflects that context, which usually means a slower pace, more questions about drug-interaction caveats, and an explicit reminder that cannabis is not FDA-approved for medical conditions.

School zones. No advertising within 500 feet of school entrances per NYS OCM rules. Both Alchemy locations are surveyed against the school-buffer rule and confirmed compliant. The buffer applies to exterior signage; the storefront window does not advertise products.

Houses of worship. No advertising within 200 feet of houses of worship per OCM rule. Both locations are surveyed against this buffer and confirmed compliant.

Playgrounds and youth facilities. No cannabis-related signage or product display visible from a playground or youth facility entrance. Confirmed compliant at both locations.

NYS Part 113 packaging requirements mandate child-resistant compliant packaging on every cannabis product. The Alchemy stocks only Part 113 compliant product. Customers transporting cannabis from the dispensary to home or another consumption location are advised to keep the product in the original packaging or in a separate child-resistant case until consumption.

The Alchemy stocks supplementary child-resistant cases and storage containers for at-home use, available at the register, because a household with a curious six-year-old or a senior dog needs the secondary container even when the primary packaging is compliant. The compliance protection ends the moment a parent opens the package and leaves the contents on the kitchen counter.

Every Alchemy product label discloses the cannabinoid content in milligrams (edibles, tinctures) or in percentage (flower, pre-rolls, concentrates, vapes). The dose disclosure is visible on the package and on the menu listing. The full COA includes the lab-tested cannabinoid profile across THC, THCa, CBD, CBG, CBN, and minor cannabinoids.

Edible products are capped at 10 milligrams of THC per serving and 100 milligrams of THC per package per NYS OCM regulation (9 NYCRR §113.3). Beverages follow the same per-serving and per-package caps. Pre-roll potency is not capped on a per-piece basis but the daily three-ounce flower equivalent applies.

Budtenders are trained to discuss dose ranges with customers based on experience level, prior cannabis history, and intended outcome. The dose conversation is the standard at every consultation. New customers default to 2.5 mg or 5 mg per piece for edibles, single 0.35 g micro pre-rolls for inhaled cannabis, and 5 mg beverages. The team explicitly avoids selling first-time customers high-potency products that exceed a reasonable on-ramp.

The Alchemy advertising follows NYS OCM rules: no targeting of minors, no claims of medical benefit or treatment beyond approved language, no use of cartoons or imagery appealing to minors, no comparison to alcohol or other unregulated substances, no promotion of excessive consumption, and no offering of free cannabis as inducement.

All promoted cannabis prices include all NYS taxes. The price the customer sees is the price the customer pays. NYS adult-use tax is 13 percent (9 percent state excise plus 4 percent local) plus NYC sales tax. Total tax at the register approximates 22 percent. We disclose this on the menu, on the receipt, and in any pricing-related promotion.

External creative work (Instagram posts, email campaigns, in-store signage, partner cross-promotions) passes a compliance review against the OCM advertising checklist before publication. The checklist covers audience targeting, content accuracy, claims, imagery, contest mechanics, and price presentation. Material that fails the check gets rewritten before going live.

Every cultivator and processor on our shelf passes a multi-step vendor due-diligence review before a single SKU clears receiving. The review covers OCM license status verification (current, in good standing, no open enforcement actions), Part 113 packaging compliance review on a sample SKU before bulk ordering, lab COA verification (current testing date, passing across all categories, lab accreditation status), insurance coverage documentation, and an in-person grower or processor site visit when geography permits.

Vendor partnerships include Hudson Cannabis (Hudson Valley craft cultivator), Florist Farms (sun-grown and greenhouse), Silly Nice (specialty processor), Mfused (live resin processor), Dogwalkers (mini pre-roll specialist), 1906 (effect-targeted edibles), Drew Martin (botanical pre-rolls), Ayrloom (cannabis beverages), and a rotating slate of additional NYS-licensed cultivators and processors. The vendor roster updates monthly as the market matures.

We document the vendor due-diligence file for every active partner. The file is available for OCM review and is part of the standard inspection package.

The Alchemy budtender team receives ongoing compliance training that covers updates to NYS OCM rules, new product compliance requirements, age verification protocol refreshers, customer consultation best practices, harm reduction protocol, and crisis-response protocol for customers in cannabis-related distress.

Training cadence: 40-hour structured onboarding on hire, weekly team education at pre-shift huddle (15 minutes), monthly compliance review covering OCM bulletins and rule changes, and quarterly deeper-dive sessions on a rotating topic (advertising, packaging, age verification, delivery, etc.). The compliance officer leads the quarterly sessions and the store manager runs the weekly team education.

The Alchemy publishes customer-facing compliance resources on the website. These include the COA lookup tool, the possession limit guide, the public consumption guide, dose education for new consumers, drug-testing context, pregnancy and lactation guidance, the consumer privacy policy, and the accessibility statement. Each resource is written in plain English with citation back to the underlying OCM rule or statute where applicable.

The compliance resources are also available in printed form at the front counter at both locations. A customer who prefers a printed reference for the possession limit, the public consumption rules, or the dose education can pick one up at no cost.

Customers, employees, or partners who identify a potential compliance concern can report it through three channels. Email [email protected]; we acknowledge within one business day and document the concern in our compliance log. File directly with NYS OCM at cannabis.ny.gov through the complaint portal; OCM is the regulator of record and the authoritative channel for any concern about a NYS-licensed operator. For an immediate safety concern at one of our locations, call 911 first and notify the team after the situation is stabilized.

We investigate every reported concern, document the resolution, and report material findings to the compliance officer for review. Concerns that surface a systemic issue trigger a process review and an update to the training curriculum.

Every claim on this page is verifiable through public sources.

License status: search the storefront address at cannabis.ny.gov/dispensary-verification. The license number printed inside the vestibule of each location matches the OCM record.

Statute citations: MRTA full text at nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/s854a. NYS Cannabis Law at nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CNB. OCM regulations at cannabis.ny.gov/regulations.

COA verification: scan the QR code on any product purchased at either location. The QR resolves to the testing laboratory's public COA portal. Cross-reference the batch number on the package with the batch number on the COA.

Public hotline: NYS OCM consumer hotline published at cannabis.ny.gov. Direct phone access for verification questions, complaint filing, and general consumer education.

This compliance statement updates as OCM rules change. The footer of this page displays the last-revised date. Material updates trigger a customer-facing notification on the homepage and an email to active loyalty members.